Netscape Browser (or ''Netscape 8'') is the eighth major release of the

Netscape Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California, and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was o ...

series of

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

s, now all discontinued. It was published by AOL, but developed by Mercurial Communications, and originally released for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

on May 19, 2005. Netscape Browser was the first browser of the Netscape series to be based on

Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curren ...

, as opposed to Netscape versions 6 and 7 which were based on

Mozilla Application Suite The Mozilla Application Suite (originally known as Mozilla, marketed as the Mozilla Suite) is a discontinued cross-platform integrated Internet suite. Its development was initiated by Netscape Communications Corporation, before their acquisition ...

. Also, Netscape 6 and 7 were

Internet suite An Internet suite is an Internet-related software suite. Internet suites usually include a web browser, e-mail client (often with a news client and address book), download manager, HTML editor, and an IRC client. The diversity of Internet suite o ...

s whereas Netscape Browser (version 8) was solely a web browser. As with other recent versions, it incorporates support for

AOL Instant Messenger AOL Instant Messenger (AIM, sometimes stylized as aim) was an instant messaging and presence information computer program created by AOL. It used the proprietary OSCAR protocol, OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow us ...

, and other AOL-related features. Netscape Browser was succeeded by Netscape Navigator 9, which reverted to the Navigator name.

Release history and milestones

The browser was released on May 19, 2005. A minor update known as version 8.0.1 was released a few hours later to incorporate the key security patches added in Firefox 1.0.4.

Features

A noteworthy feature introduced in Netscape Browser is the ability to use either of two layout engines to render websites — either Internet Explorer 6's

Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

layout engine or the

Gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

engine used by Mozilla and its derivatives. This is used as part of the browser's "Site Controls" system, which allows security settings to be altered on a per-site basis, and is also touted as a defense against

phishing Phishing is a form of social engineering and a scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware. Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticate ...

and similar attacks, with both

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

s and

whitelist A whitelist or allowlist is a list or register of entities that are being provided a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. Entities on the list will be accepted, approved and/or recognized. Whitelisting is the reverse of ...

s built in and automatically updated regularly. This system decides whether a site is "trusted" or "suspect", while only whitelisted sites use the Trident engine by default. However, this feature is actually implemented by using the IE ActiveX control, which is composed of most of IE's architectures. Other features highlighted by AOL's publicity include improved

tabbed browsing In interface design, a tab is a graphical user interface object that allows multiple documents or Panel (computer software), panels to be contained within a single window (computing), window, using tabs as a navigational widget for switching be ...

abilities, a

toolbar The toolbar, also called a bar or standard toolbar (originally known as ribbon), is a graphical control element on which on-screen icons can be used. A toolbar often allows for quick access to functions that are commonly used in the program. Some ...

system called the "MultiBar," which includes up to 10 toolbars in the space of one, and extra support for "Live Content", such as

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

feeds. In keeping with the security emphasis, a new secure form information and password management system, known as a "PassCard," which saves usernames and passwords for individual sites, is also included. In Netscape version 8.1, the Security Center feature is much more integrated into the browser, and extra features, such as ID Theft Protection and Spyware Protection have been integrated. Netscape includes a host of "widgets" designed to improve the browsing experience, including Local Weather information, Movie Times and reviews, Mapquest maps, Yellow pages, White pages, Stocks, and a City guide, all integrated into menu-enabled toolbar buttons. Furthermore, a webmail button is included in the toolbar, which links directly to multiple webmail homepages and is configurable for multiple webmail accounts. A button to run the user's default mail client is included. There are multiple smaller features included, including a shortcut menu that appears when text is selected to paste the selected text directly into a search engine of choice. Finally, the browser includes a pop-up advertisement blocker which can be configured to allow pop-ups for individual sites, block only unrequested pop-ups, and open any pop-ups in new tabs in one window, thus preventing pop-unders.

Criticism

The Netscape Browser has been criticized for various reasons. Perhaps the most severe is the claim that, in contradiction to its claimed emphasis on security, its use of both the

and

rendering engines means it unavoidably inherits all the vulnerabilities of both engines, making it potentially less secure than either Firefox or IE on their own.

Renderer modality problems

The switching between rendering engines may also confuse users, since the web browsing experience is very different depending on which is used. A standards based website will generally render better in Gecko thanks to its better standards support, but Netscape Browser renders whitelisted pages using Trident instead. ''"As the switching is transparent to the user, users are left wondering why their experience changes randomly across different websites"''.

User interface issues

The optional theme "Fusion" has also been criticized because it does not conform to the Microsoft

human interface guidelines Human interface guidelines (HIG) are software development documents which offer application developers a set of recommendations. Their aim is to improve the experience for the users by making application interfaces more intuitive, learnable, and ...

(HIG), either "Luna" or "classic" style, although the default theme, "Winscape", looks more like a traditional Windows application. There is also a claim that the usability of the browser is reduced by not obeying standard Windows manipulations. Similarly, the excessive nesting of tabs has been cited as a sign of generally poor interface design. The installation program of Netscape 8.12 prompts the user into which theme would be preferred, with the traditional "Winscape" being checked by default.

Helper programs removed

Some users have argued the formerly included

email client An email client, email reader or, more formally, message user agent (MUA) or mail user agent is a computer program used to access and manage a user's email. A web application which provides message management, composition, and reception functio ...

and

HTML editor An HTML editor is a program used for editing HTML, the markup of a web page. Although the HTML markup in a web page can be controlled with any text editor, specialized HTML editors can offer convenience, added functionality, and organisation. Fo ...

were more valuable as part of the browser package than new features such as a live weather report and news ticker, especially since these applications were tradition in earlier versions. Firefox, upon which Netscape Browser is based, does not include an email client or HTML editor either, but an

extension can be downloaded from the Extension and Themes section of the Firefox websit

and email support is provided by

Mozilla Thunderbird Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client that also functions as a personal information manager with a Digital calendar, calendar and contactbook, as well as an RSS feed reader, chat client (IRC/XMPP/Matrix (protocol), Matrix), ...

. Older Netscape releases were based upon the Mozilla Suite, which did include this functionality.

Collection of personal information

Another criticism is that the browser collects user browsing behavior by defaul

By default, the option "Allow Netscape to gather anonymous browser usage statistics" is enabled. The option is found in the "Advanced Settings" during installation. As many casual users may skip the dialogs during installation, this feature could be turned on in many installations of Netscape Browser. Some argue this feature should be called

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is any malware that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's securit ...

, however this term usually applies only to software that attempts to send private information to companies often later selling this to advertisers, whereas the information collected is actually anonymous.

Password issues

A related possible criticism is that in the browser's password manager menu, saved passwords can be viewed in plain text. Thus, if a user has access to another's account, they could retrieve all their usernames and passwords in plain text with little effort. Further, this option cannot be turned off or removed without editing the software. This problem doesn't happen in version 8.1.3.

XML rendering issue (fixed)

A few days after Netscape 8.0.1 was released, Microsoft reported the browser disables the

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...

rendering engine in Internet Explorer by causing IE to render XML pages as a blank page. Netscape fixed the issue in version 8.0.2.

Footnotes

#
NS8, part 1: I need closure
''Blake Ross' blog''. #
NS8, part 2: More horsepower than ever before
''Blake Ross' blog''. #

MozillaZine. #
Netscape 8 and Internet Explorer's XML Rendering
''IEBlog''. #
Netscape Gecko and Trident Rendering Engine Security Issues
''Chris Ilias' Blog''.

References

* MozillaZine. (2004)
First Look at Firefox-Based Netscape
Retrieved December 4, 2004. * MozillaZine. (2005)

Retrieved January 17, 2005. *BetaNews. (2005)
Netscape Browser 8.0 Beta Goes Live
Retrieved March 3, 2005. * MozillaZine. (2005)

Retrieved May 20, 2005.

External links

*, Netscape Archive
Netscape 8 - Netscape Browser Archive
, SillyDog701
Vulnerability Report: Netscape 8.x
Secunia {{Web browsers Gopher clients Internet Explorer shells Web browsers based on Firefox Netscape Windows web browsers Discontinued web browsers